The Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC) is an American governmental/corporate alliance created at the request of corporations "for an FBI-led organization that would bridge the information divide between America’s private and public sectors" [1] in December 2005. The program facilitates information sharing and cooperation between the FBI and over 200 of the largest American companies, which altogether account for over one third of the gross domestic product of the United States. In December 2012, released documents showed that the DSAC and counter-terrorism programs conducted surveillance of non-violent Occupy Wall Street protesters in 2011.

The mission statement of DSAC states that the program is "a strategic partnership between the FBI and the U.S. private sector," that it promotes the "effective exchange of information" between them, and that it allows the FBI to more easily detect and prevent criminal activity involving interstate commerce.[2] DSAC is also supervised by the Department of Homeland Security.[3]

In July 2006, DSAC created a leadership board of 29 business leaders from major companies in the United States. These include companies in the airline, banking, entertainment, food, and other industries.[2] Two-thirds of the members of the leadership board cross-affiliate with the Business Roundtable. In 2010, over 200 companies participated in DSAC, constituting over one third of the US GDP and almost 10% of its labor force.[2]Merck Vice President Grant Ashley, American Undersecretary Dawn Scalici, and assistant FBI director Ronald C. Ruecker are all chairpersons of and executives for DSAC.[2] Merck also cross-affiliates with the Business Roundtable. Other American companies participating in DSAC include Bank of America, Barclays, American Express, Mastercard, United Airlines, Boeing, General Electric, and Walmart.[4] Of these, Bank of America, Barclays, American Express, Mastercard, Boeing, General Electric and Walmart all cross-affiliate with the Business Roundtable.

The FBI used informants to infiltrate and monitor protests; information from informants and military intelligence units was passed to DSAC, which then gave updates to financial companies.[7] Surveillance of protestors was also carried out by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.[7][8] DSAC also coordinated with security firms hired by banks to target OWS leaders.[9]

Previously, in December 2011, DSAC had written a report on law enforcement agencies' plans for a 12 December protest at US ports, which involved investigation of links between OWS and port trade unions by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.[10]

The Partnership for Civil Justice, a non-profit, said that espionage facilitated by DSAC treated "protests against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential criminal and terrorist activity," and said that DSAC was "functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and corporate America."[6]Naomi Wolf wrote in The Guardian that surveillance of OWS by the FBI was conducted with the knowledge of the Obama Administration.[11]

A DSAC brochure[1] states that the benefits of membership in the DSAC include:

Centralized access to security information not only from the FBI, but from all federal government entities, including the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, the IRS, U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Secret Service

Ongoing access to a network of diverse security experts at the highest government and corporate levels